Friday, January 18, 2013

Filipino Martyr: RAFAEL L.CALDA

RAFAEL L.CALDA

Cavite Mutiny Indictee

Intensely nationalistic, Rafael Calda y Luisa, did not hesitate to stand up for the rights of the secular priests and of the Filipino people. For his espousal of reformist ideas, he was charged with complicity in the Cavite Mutiny in January 1872.

The Spanish military court sentenced him to 10 years imprisonment and exile. Initially, he was ordered to serve his sentence in one of the Spanish prisons in Africa. However, this order was revoked and, instead, he was banished to Cartagena, Spain.

Calda was convicted of conspiring with others against the political constitution of Spain, and of being sympathetic to the military rebellion in the Fort of Cavite on the night of January 20, 1872.